Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Yesterday, I wrote about the shocking story reported in Haaretz that B’Tselem had compiled eyewitness testimony confirming that the IDF had murdered four Palestinian militants execution style in Bethlehem a few weeks ago, which contradicted earlier IDF claims that the victims had resisted arrest or returned fire on their attackers. Several IDF apologists in the comment thread for that post have attempted to raise doubts about the nature of the attack. So I thought I would quote from one of the witnesses, Muhammad Abu ‘Ahour, to give readers a sense of how reliable his account is. I warn you that this is very graphic and very disturbing stuff. If you have half a conscience it will shake your convictions, and if you consider yourself a supporter of Israel as I do, it will make you question whether there is pure evil lurking in the hearts of some Israelis:

…I heard the sound of gunfire outside. I immediately went outside to see what was happening, because my wife and baby were in the car [in front of the one attacked by the IDF]. I stood in front of the shop, about five meters from my car, and saw a red Daihatsu parked behind my car. I saw a man walking three meters from the car. Then I heard someone call out, “’Imad!” The man who called out the name was standing on the street next to an orange minibus with Palestinian plates. I saw the man called ‘Imad turn toward the voice and then I heard the sound of a gunshot. The bullet hit ‘Imad in the leg and he fell to the ground.

Immediately after that, I saw six soldiers, in uniform, with helmets and masks, approach the Daihatsu and open massive gunfire at it. I saw the blue ricochet of the bullets. They fired into the car for a long time. The man who had called out to ‘Imad stood next to the minibus and didn’t fire. He was wearing civilian clothes – a blue shirt and jeans – and looked as though he was in his forties. He had a potbelly and was tall, dark-skinned and bald. He told me in Arabic, “Get back or I’ll shoot you.” I shouted that my wife and baby were in the car and that I wanted to go to them, and that I didn’t care if he shot me, that I preferred to die with my wife and baby than die watching how the car next to mine was being shot at. I spoke to him in Hebrew, and he answered me in fluent Arabic.

I heard ‘Imad cry out. He was lying in the middle of the street. Then I saw the soldiers who had fired at the Daihatsu turn toward him and shoot him in the head. His brain scattered all over the ground, which was a horrible sight. I went over to my car and took out my wife and baby, who were unharmed. The bullets hadn’t hit my car. I took the two of them into the mobile-phone store and then I went outside again. I saw the soldiers take a weapon from the driver’s seat of the Daihatsu.

Then I saw the man in civilian clothes holding a weapon. He went over to the Daihatsu and shot the heads of the three men who were inside. They didn’t move. He shot them from behind, in the head. I didn’t know who they were or why they had been executed.

After that, the man in civilian clothes fired one shot into the head of ‘Imad, whose brain was already scattered on the ground. Then he went back to the minibus, got in with the soldiers, and they drove off.

I went over to the Daihatsu and looked inside. I was shocked when I saw my uncle, ‘Issa Marzuq Zawahreh, who was 36 years old, sitting in the back seat of the car. His head was shattered and resting on the shoulder of his friend, Muhammad Shehadeh, who was next to him. Shehadeh was wanted by the Israeli army. Their heads, which had bullet holes in the back, were leaning forward. It was a terrifying sight, as was the sight of Ahmad al-Balbul, who was sitting next to the driver’s seat. Part of his body was scattered on the seat. The three were killed while sitting in the car. The firing was massive and lasted about two minutes. It came from behind the car. The bullets entered through the back window and went out through the windshield.

There are two other eyewitness accounts on the B’Tselem website which confirm the essential details of this one. So what do you think? Execution or not?

When I read such accounts my feelings about Israel are severely tested. Is this the type of nation that we stand for? One that wreaks vengeance on those who do not threaten it? One that murders its prey rather than be forced to go through the tedium of arresting them and bringing them to trial? One that trains killers not only to kill their enemy but to disfigure them Mafia-style by splattering their brains and body parts in order to further humiliate them and their families? Lord, what is this nation? Is it the Golem created initially to save us Jews only to become an out of control monster who threatens our good name? What hath God and the Jewish people wrought?

tags btselem, golem, idf execution of bethelem militants

Lawrence of Cyberia broke my heart tonight. But as anyone who has followed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can tell you, your heart breaks far too often when you come to care for the fate of these two troubled peoples. There are all too many opportunities to get your heart broken.

Tonight, Diane wrote about a particularly nasty 2003 incident first reported in the New York Times, in which Israeli Border Police picked a 17 year-old Hebron boy at random, threw him in the back of their jeep, drove him to the town’s deserted industrial zone and beat him up along the way. An officer in the front seat filmed a trophy video of the beating while his colleagues in the back seat did the deed. When they tired of the beating they physically threw him from the speeding jeep. The boy died when his head hit the ground with the jeep traveling roughly 40-50 mph.

The reason Diane wrote about this story is that this month one of the four perpetrators was convicted of the killing (his three colleagues remain on trial). But after reading the defense lawyer’s claim that these men were only acting according to standards set for them by the Border Police itself, she began to realize that a litany of similar prosecutions against other Border Police personnel for similar abuse proved the lawyer correct. In other words, both the Border Police–perhaps explicitly–and Israeli society tacitly want their police to terrorize the Palestinian population treating it in a brutish, bestial manner. So why prosecute individual officers for doing what they were taught to do?

I’m not sure whether Diane believes the four policemen should be set free. But she certainly does want to focus attention on the institution of the police itself and its history of sadistic treatment of Palestinians.

Among her litany of similar cases was this one. It’s the one that broke my heart.
B’Tselem reports that Nazih Salah ‘Awad Damiri, a 24-year old Palestinian shepherd living near Tulkarem came upon Israeli Border policemen while moving his flock through a fence. After they detained him and forced him to humiliate himself in their presence, the officers had far worse in store:

Then he told me to ride to the nearby grove. I asked him about my ID card. He told me that we hadn’t finished, and that he would be behind me. He and the other policeman followed me in the jeep. When we reached the grove, he tied the donkey to a tree and told me to fuck it. He repeated his demand a couple of times. He also told me to lift up the tail of the donkey and tie it around my head. I told him that the tail was too short, and that I wasn’t able to do it. He stood facing me and aimed his weapon at me. The other policeman was in the jeep, watching what was going on.

I stood behind the donkey, took out my penis, and told him “enough.” He said, “I’ll tell you when it is enough.” I was frightened to death, and I couldn’t get an erection, so I couldn’t do anything. He made me continue, and I pretended that I was doing what he wanted me to do. I tried to look over at them, but the policeman yelled at me and told me not to look, and that if I did, he would shoot me. This went on for about thirty minutes, before he told me to stop. He tightened the saddle on my back and gave me back my ID card. Then he told me, “Ride over to the flock, fuck them, and I’ll chase you.” I rode away, the saddle still on me, and he watched me go. After I got some distance away from them, I untied the saddle and walked over to my brother, who was on the land west of the fence, and told him what happened.

I post these stories not to single the Israeli side out for special opprobrium. I make clear regularly when I write about this conflict that there is degradation, brutality and humiliation on both sides. Perhaps the Israelis have more power and opportunity to inflict a greater share on the Palestinians, but that doesn’t mean the latter get off scot free either. For what is Palestinian suicide bombing other than the utmost torture? It’s the Occupation, stupid. It destroys humanity for both Israelis and Palestinians. And we can expect such bestial behavior to continue till there is a breakthrough for peace.

tags btselem, human_rights, israeli_border_police, lawrence_of_cyberia, palestinians, torture

I’ve noticed that in perusing the web for news, information and opinion about the Mideast conflict, there are many individual sites.  But there are few sites which act as a compendium or directory for all the others.  So to answer this need, I’ve compiled a comprehensive (well, as comprehensive as possible) list of online American Jewish and Israeli resources devoted to Mideast peace.  I’ve created three sections: one devoted to organizations; one to weblogs and the last to media and research resources.  No such list as this can be truly comprehensive.  Organizations may have been left out unintentionally.  Organizations whose mission appears anti-Zionist have also been omitted.  If you feel I have left out a significant peace resource, please let me know (and include a URL) and I will add it.

Now that I have this megaphone I’d like to note two serious deficiencies in the online Mideast peace community:

1. Why aren’t there more bloggers blogging on Mideast peace in a sustained fashion?  I would like to compile a list of all such bloggers and I know the list below only scratches the surface.  If you know of other blogs devoted to peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians let me know.  I would also urge every blogger interested in the subject to cross link to the blogs listed below so that we can mutually strengthen traffic to our sites and the peace message we espouse.

2. While several organizations below maintain forums at their site for discussion of the conflict, few attract a broad membership.  Mideast Web’s forum membership, composed mostly of Jews, sustains a high level of invective and vitriol (at least that was so when I was briefly a member a year ago or so–the site owner tells me that this is no longer the case).   The Middle East Information Center’s forum members, from a mix of ethnic and religious backgrounds, run the gamut from anti-Zionists to hard-right pro-Israel hacks.  Charlie Rose’s website also maintains a discussion board with a Mideast Peace section.  The New York TImes.com website also has a Mideast Forum.  But a number of these forums contain a coterie of young, male, testosterone-enhanced hard-right members who seem to enjoy verbally intimidating anyone who advocates strongly on behalf of Mideast peace.

I’ve proposed to several peace organizations (Brit Tzedek V’Shalom was one of them) that they initiate such a project.  But none have been willing or interested in doing so.  In none of the forums I’ve visited have I found serious, in-depth analysis and interchange concerning the conflict (Tikkun is the exception here, though its discussion groups are based around pre-formulated topics and members cannot create new discussion topics).  Speaking as someone who spends a good deal of time on the web, I’d like to be able to communicate with likeminded people regarding a subject that is near and dear to my heart.  I regret to say that “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

Mideast Peace Organizations

The Abraham Fund Initiatives:
A New York and Jerusalem-based non-governmental organization working to advance coexistence, equality and cooperation among Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens.

American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam:
The American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is dedicated to dialogue, cooperation and a genuine and durable peace between Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis by encouraging, supporting and publicizing the projects of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the “Oasis of Peace.”

Americans for Peace Now [APN]:
Founded to help Shalom Achshav and to build an informed and empowered pro-peace American public

Brit Shalom
With voices calling for vengeance louder than the voices calling for reconciliation–Brit Shalom/Tahalof Essalam - the Jewish-Palestinian Peace Alliance: an organisation by Jews and Palestinians, undertakes systematic, informed, serious, persistent and efficient activity for peace.

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace:
National organization of American Jews deeply committed to Israel’s well-being through the achievement of a negotiated settlement to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict

B’Tselem:
Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories documents and educates the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combats the denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and helps create a human rights culture in Israel.

Find Common Ground:
Seattle-based interfaith group which recently hosted a well-attended University of Washington symposium with Ami Ayalon and Sari Nusseibeh.

Foundation for Middle East Peace:
Dedicated to informing Americans about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and assisting in a peaceful solution that brings security for both peoples.

Geneva Accords:
Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal drafted by Yossi Beilin, Amram Mitzna, Yasser Abed Rabbo and other political leaders

Gush Shalom ("The Peace Bloc"):
The ‘hard core’ of the Israeli peace movement

Israel Policy Forum:
Supports active and sustained American efforts aimed at resolving the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors.  A return to negotiations in the Israeli-Palestinian arena is a critical component of the war against terrorism and of the struggle for a secure Israel

Jewish Peace Fellowship:
Affiliated with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a Christian pacifist activist group, JPF supports a non-violent, equitable resolution of the ME conflict.

Jewish Peace Lobby:
American Jewish organization which seeks to promote a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Its central focus is US foreign policy through which it promotes policies strengthening the long-term security of Israel as well as the vision of a humane Israel which protects democratic values and human rights.  It endorses policies which promote the rights and well-being of the Palestinian people.  To these ends, it regularly engages US policy makers as well as Israeli and Palestinian policy makers.

Jewish Voice for Peace:
Israelis and Palestinians.  Two Peoples, One Future

Meretz USA:
A progressive Zionist organization that educates Americans about issues of civil rights and peace in Israel, and promotes the values of peace, pluralism and democracy in Israel.  Affiliated with Israel’s Meretz political party.

NEVE SHALOM/WAHAT AL-SALAM:
A village in Israel established jointly by Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship and engaged in educational work for peace, equality and understanding between the two peoples.

New Israel Fund:
Works to strengthen Israel’s democracy and to promote freedom, justice and equality for all Israel’s citizens.

New Profile: Movement for the Civilization of Israeli Society:
Anti-war, anti-militarist site dedicated to the idea that Israelis do not need to live in a soldiers’ State and in a state of perpetual war.

The Parent’s Circle:
Bereaved Israeli and Palestinian parents who have lost loved ones through Israeli-Palestinian violence

Peace in the Middle East:
An open letter from American Jews to our government

Peace Now!
The first and primary goal of PEACE NOW has been to press the Israeli government to seek peace - through negotiations and mutual compromise - with our Arab neighbors and the Palestinian people.

The People’s Voice (HaMifkad Ha-L’umi)
The People’s Voice is an Israeli-Palestinian civil initiative that aims to advance the process of peace. It will launch a public process whose goal is to
influence the leaders on both sides, including a mass signing of a
joint Statement of Intentions that is based on the "two states for two
peoples" formula.

The leaders of the initiative are Ami Ayalon and Dr. Sari Nusseibeh together with public councils and field activists.

Pursue the Peace
An organizaiton of Seattle-area Jews supporting a just Israeli/Palestinian peace

Rabbis for Human Rights is the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights.  We promote justice and freedom, while campaigning against discrimination and inhumane conduct.  The North American affiliate is at http://www.rhr-na.org/id5.html

Sari Nusseibeh Homepage
Nusseibeh is president of Al Kuds University and a leading Palestinian supporter of peace and reconciliation with Israel.  Click here for the Nusseibeh-Ayalon peace plan

Seeds of Peace
Empowers children of war to break the cycle of violence.  Seeds of Peace is dedicated to preparing teenagers from areas of conflict with the leadership skills required to promote coexistence and peace.
The organization focuses primarily on the Middle East, but its programs have expanded to include other regions of conflict including the Balkans, South Asia, and Cyprus.

Seruv:
Israeli soldiers who pledge their commitment to the security of Israel, but declare that they will take no part in missions intended to prolong the occupation

SHMINISTIM:
Israeli Youth Refusal Movement; REFUSE TO SERVE THE OCCUPATION!

The Shalom Center:
A network of American Jews who draw on Jewish tradition and spirituality to seek peace, pursue justice, heal the earth, and build community.

The Shefa Fund:
Encourages American Jews to use tzedakah to create a more just society, and in the process, to transform Jewish life so that it becomes more socially conscious and spiritually invigorating

Tikkun Community:
People from many faiths and traditions, called together by TIKKUN magazine and its vision of healing and transforming our world.

Washington Institute for Near East Policy:
A public educational foundation dedicated to scholarly research and informed debate on U.S. interests in the Middle East

West-East Divan Workshop
Edward Said’s and Daniel Barenboim’s “all-Mideast” orchestra composed of Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish and Muslim musicians who make music around the world and attempt to live out a life of collaboration and tolerance.

Mideast Peace Media and Research Resources

Bitterlemons.org
Presents Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and peace process. Produced, edited and partially written by Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian, and Yossi Alpher, an Israeli. Its goal is to contribute to mutual understanding through the open exchange of ideas. Bitterlemons.org aspires to impact the way Palestinians, Israelis and others worldwide think about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Common Ground News Service - Middle East:
Provides news, op-eds, features, and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of Middle East issues

International Crisis Group

ICG’s work in Israel, the occupied territories and with Israel’s Arab neighbours focuses on new, comprehensive political and diplomatic strategies to address the sources of conflict, and deal with those factors within Israel and Arab societies hindering the achievement of sustainable peace.

Middle East Information Center
An information resource helping us to better understand the conflicts in the Middle East.  We focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict because it is arguably the single most important source of tension in the region

Mideast Web:
Massive compendium of facts, figures, historical background and resource links to the Middle East conflict

Israeli, Palestinian, and Middle East News and Research Resources:
Media links and other research tools

Tikkun Magazine:
Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture, & Society

Mideast Peace Weblogs

Aron’s Israel Peace Blog
Aron was raised Orthodox, made aliya and served ten years in the Israeli Army.  Reading his excellent blog is just like being thrown right into the Israeli political, moral maelstrom

Aspasia was one of the great dissenters of world history. In ancient Athens, she opened a school of rhetoric and philosophy that welcomed men and women.  She introduced salon culture to the city and counted amongst her contemporaries Socrates, who claimed he learned from her the art of rhetoric, the playwright Euripides, the philosopher Anaxagoras, and the sculptor Pheidias.  When Aspasia married Pericles, the great statesman, his opponents charged her with impiety (the age-old slur of the malcontent), and spread rumors that her salon was a bordello.  She successfully defended herself and her reputation.

Dutchblog Israel
Bert de Bruin ( Yonathan Dror Bar-On ), is a former Dutch historian, who specialized in modern Jewish history and in history of the Middle East, and who in 1995 emigrated from the Netherlands to Israel. He currently is working on his doctoral thesis, on the subject Jews and non-Jews in Post-Liberation France, 1944-49.

Expat Egghead and Cathy

Head Heeb: Knocking Down 4,000 Years of Icons
A remarkably lucid and comprehensive blog devoted to international relations with a strong focus on the Mideast conflict.

Lawrence of Cyberia
Diane Mason’s blog boasts thorough, in depth analysis of the conflict with sympathy & criticism levelled at both sides.  The author masterfully explores Haaretz, using it to plumb the depths of Israeli negative stereotypes about Palestinians.

Searching for a Rainbow:
Notes on life in Israel, baseball, kids, etc

tags btselem, israeli-peace-groups, israeli-policy-forum, peace-now